Fun in the Winter: Playing in the Snow

If you follow Justin or me on Twitter, you've seen us posting the past few days about our winter weather.  Apparently, Turkey is having an unseasonably harsh winter (as opposed to the unusually mild winter in the US this year), so we've seen a LOT of snow and really cold temperatures.  This has been a real challenge for us when combined with the adjustment to apartment living; in fact, I think I can say this has been the hardest part of moving here so far.  We know that Ankara has a LOT of beautiful playgrounds and plenty of open spaces, parks, and trails for outdoor activity.  However, with the harsh winter weather, we are unable to take advantage of any of that, and for the most part we're stuck in our apartment where noise is a factor to how rowdy our play can get!  However, we're finding ways to keep ourselves (and our extremely energetic 3-year-old!) entertained, so this is the first in a small series on how we're having fun in the city this winter.

The obvious answer to that is, of course, going out and playing in the snow!  We had a HUGE snowfall yesterday - my estimate is about 15 inches.  Definitely over a foot!  So today we bundled up and went out to play in it for a little while!

This is a small flat area next to our building.  I think it's a parking lot, but with all the snow, no cars could possibly get in or out of it.  So we play in it instead!

 

 

We were disappointed to discover that the snow was too powdery to pack, so we couldn't make a snowman.  We still had fun throwing it, and Elias loved flopping down in it!

(See the next post for some videos of Elias playing in the snow.)

Then when we came in, we pulled out the white Play-Doh and made snowmen.  There's more than one way to skin a cat!  :)

Please do not ask what is up with the face he is making.  I have no idea.  Also, please don't ask what is wrong with his hair.  For some reason, he wakes up looking like this. Every. Morning.  Could it be the down pillow?!

Then Elias gleefully enjoyed smooshing him flat.  Over and over and over.

Check back tomorrow for our next installment of Fun in the Winter!